JAPAN

The whole nation iscaught in a spider's web.Japan is leaving no stoneunturned in its offensiveagainst the poisonous redback spider. Armed with vacuums and fumigators, tweezers and chopsticks, nets andjars and pesticides, healthofficials have hunted the spider down wells and manholes, under gravestones andin schoolyards and parkssince the first enemy wasfound near Osaka. They evenflew in emergency shipmentsof antitoxin from Australia,the redback's original home.The redback spider is abouttwo-inches long. A handfulof deaths are reportedaround the world due to itsbite each year.

In Australia, where thespider is passe, no such deathhas occured since theantitoxin was developed in1956. Most people whoare bitten recover after afew days of sickness. Butthe Japanese are leavingnothing to chance. Thewhole episode has fuelleda debate on Japanesequarantine laws.